Breaker strip construction



May 26, 1942.

Ila-.2

o. o. RIESER 2,284,301

" BREAKER STRIP CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept, 24, 1936 d IINVENTOR.

OLIVE}? 0- R/EsER.

ATTORNEYS.

' finished appearance Patented May 26, 1942 2,234,301 BREAKER s'rmr conscmucrron' Oliver 0. Riescr, Oak Park, 111., assignor to The Richardson Company, Lockland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 24, 1936, Serial No. 102,357

1 2 Claims.

, My types of breaker strips for domestic refrigerators; but will be understood as having application to the solution of similar problems in other situations. I shall describe my invention in connection with the breaker strip aforesaid which, in terms of present day construction of domestic refrigerators, is a lining member for the door opening. As will be understood, the modern domestic refrigerator comprises an outer shell of metal and an inner or food compartment shell of metal, both having access openings to be closed by the refrigerator door. The food compartment is usually a unitary and integral box-like member; whereas the outer part of the refrigerator is usually made up from a plurality of metal sections; but for convenience herein I shall refer to these parts as the inner and outer shells of the refrigerator. The shells are separated, of course, by the usual insulating material. About the access opening, the shells are mounted to wooden members or to a wooden frame, whereby they are held together, the edges of the shells being intumed and mounted to the door by screws or nails. For appearance as well as sanitation something is required to cover the wood and the adjacent edges of the inner and outer shells, and it has been the practice to cut strips of condensation resin panel material and. fasten these in the door opening to the wood by means of screws, in such a way as to cover the adjacent edges of the inner and outer shells, giving a to the door opening, the door opening, as will be understood, having usually slanting sides.

It is somewhat objectionable to pass screws or other fastening members through the'breaker strips, and a much more sightly appearance could be produced if the strips could be fastened into'place without externally appearing fastening means. Due to the fact that the breaker strips have to be placed in an opening, it is not possible to provide fastening means which have sliding contact with the breaker strip, which can be applied first, and into which-the breaker strip can be slid. It would be possible, of course, to mold nails or fastening members into the breaker strips; but such a procedure would not be consonant with accepted methods of manufacturing resinous panels from which the breaker strips are most advantageously out. Also a breaker strip -having fastenings molded therein would be a very bulky and inconvenientarticle to pack and ship. While a fundamental object of my invention is to provide a breaker strip which can be eminvention relates to the provision of novel ployed in a domestic refrigerator without externally appearing fastening means, yet in view. of what has been said above, it will be a supplementary object of my invention to provide a type of breaker strip to which the necessary fastening means can be attached, preferably at the point of use, so that the breaker strips can be packedand shipped in the ordinary way and the fastening means either obtained or made on the job, or if shipped, shipped in a separate package from the breaker strips.

These and other objects of myinvention which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe several exemplary embodiments.

For the purpose of a complete disclosure, reference is now made to the drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a front portion of a refrigerator showing the door opening and my breaker strips inuse.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through a lamb of the door opening taken along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1.

' Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a breaker strip with an attachment means fastened thereto and a 'nail or the like engaged in the attachment means.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the reverse side of the attachment means employed in Fig. 3 and is taken along the linesd-l of that figure.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a nail designed for use with the attachment of Figs. 3and 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a breaker stripwith a different kind of attachment means in place.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the attachment means employed in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a breaker strip with a nail fastened thereto by still another type of attachment means.

Fig. 9 is a-sectional 9-9 of Fi 8.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a breaker strip with nails attached thereto directly in ways hereinafter to be described.

Fig. 11 is a sectional ll--|l of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a plan view of a nail such as may be employed in the construction of Figs. 10 and 11.

Fig. 13 is a perspective view showing another method by which nail like fasteners may be attached directly to the breaker strip.

view taken along the lines view taken along the lines Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a fastener used with the breaker strip of Fig. 13.

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary perspective view indicative of the method of forming the fasteners shown in Fig. 14.

Fig. 16 is a section taken along lines lB-IG of Fi 13. e

In Fig. 1, I have shown a refrigerator of conventional form having an inner shell I, forming the food compartment and an outer shell I. As indicated most clearly in Fig. 2, the inner shell and outer shell are joined to a wooden member or frame 5 having a slanting edge 6 which forms the inner face of the door opening. It is against this face that a breaker strip I is placed.

In the first modification of my invention. shown in Figs. .3, 4 and 5, I provide a breaker strip 1 with means 8, at intervals throughout its length, to take and hold a fastening member such as a nail. The attachment means 8 has a slot I cut through it, the slot being of a size to-accept the shank I2 of a nail. The under- -side of the attachment. member is further grooved adjacent this slot as at l3 on both sides thereof to accept a portion of the head of a nail, and about the termination of the slot In there is a circular groove or undercut ll. The'nail shown in Fig. 5 has its head flattened as at I5, so that when the attachment member is fastened by means of a suitable adhesive lia, or otherwise, to the rear of the breaker strip as shown in Fig. 3, it will be possible to slide the nail into place with the flat side l5 of the head parallel to the sides of the grooves I3, and when the shank of the nail has reached the end of the slot, to twist it so that the flat sides of the head are perpendicular to the grooves. This prevents withdrawal of the nail. In use, the breaker strips are provided with the attachment members as shown in Fig. 3. The attachment members may be and preferably are of condensation resin, but not necessarily so. They are fastened in place in any way desired, but preferably by a cement; and for this purpose I have found it entirely satisfactory to employ one of the cold, air hardening condensation resin cements or varnishes. The breaker strips may be shipped in this form. At the point of use the operator takes a breaker strip, and having provided himself with a supply of nails such as that shown in Fig. 5, inserts these nails into the attachment members and then puts the breaker strip in place in the door opening by driving the nails into the wooden' member 5 by blows or driving pressure exerted upon the face of the breaker strip. Since the attachment members 8 project behind the breaker strip, it will be the practice to cut away the wooden member 5 as shown at H, at the places where the attachment members will lie. In this way there is provided a breaker strip which has no ,visible attachment means when in use, and

a type of breaker strip which may be packed and shipped as ordinary breaker strips are. Where itis desired that nothing except the fastening itself shall project from the rear face of the breaker strip, the modifications of my invention shown in Figs. 6 to 16 may be employed. In Figs. 6 and 7 I have shown a structure wherein the breaker strip I8 is provided with an -undercutor dovetail groove IS in its rear face.

In this groove fastening means indicated generally at 20 may be inserted. The fastening means alone is illustrated in Fig. 7 and is shown as having beveled sides 2| to engage the sides of the groove l9. V-shaped slits, as shown at 22, may

and shipped separately, as will be clear.

In the modification of Figs. 8 and 9, the breaker strip 24 is provided with an undercut recess indicated at 25. A cup shaped metal washer 26 is placed over the shank 21 of a nail so as to lie against the head 28, the head'and the washer both lying in the recess 25. Then in a suitable press or by means of a hand tool, the cup shaped washer 26 is expanded into the recess 25 so as to engage in the undercuts therein, as shown at 28a.

A somewhat similar structure not employing a separate washer is illustrated in Figs. 10, 11, and 12. Here the breaker strip 28 is provided with undercut recesses 30 of approximately the size of the heads of the nails 3|. The heads of these nails, however, are made cup shaped as shown at 32 in Figs. 11 and 12, so that after insertion of the heads of the nails into the recess, the heads themselves may be expanded by a press or hand tool so as to engage in the undercuts in the recess.

In the modification of Fig. 13 the rear face of the breaker strip 33 is provided with a series of shallow channels 34, suitably spaced for receiving the nail-like fasteners'35 which have upstanding tongues 36 struck up from the head portions 31. These head portions 31 are shown .as being substantially square in formation and may bearched or V-shaped as at 31a so that when expanded within the channels 34 they engage securely with the sides thereof. It will be apparent that this construction may be readily assembled at the point of use, and while I have shown the channels 34 extending longitudinally of the breaker strip they may instead be ar-- .ranged transversely thereof, or they may take the form of square recesses moulded in the strip.

Because of the novel manner in which I form the fasteners 35, they readily effect a strong engagement with the breaker strip, with a minimum of distortion thereof. As seen in Fig, 15 I form a strip'bent as at 31a and 31b with upstanding tongues 36 struck up from the strip material. I next cutthe strip along the lines A taking care that the cutting plane is substantially perpendicular to the common plane of the strip. Thus the heads of the fasteners are formed with acute angled edges 35a. When these fa-steners'are expanded ,as seen in Fig. 16 the sharp edges 35a cut and imbed themselves in the breaker strip material forming a dovetail lock therewith.

vWhile I have spoken of the recesses in the breaker strips of Figs. 11 and 12 of the undercuts, it will be understood that this is merely a preferred construction and that other constructions providing an adequate grip may be employed. Under some circumstances it will be found sufl'iciently merely to expand the metal against the sides of the recesses which are not undercut. Also in connection with the modification of Figs. 3 to 5, inclusive, it will be understood that where thick or heavy breaker strips are employed, the use of separate attachment means may not be -necessary but a T-shaped slot coming out to the surface of the strip may be found sufficient to accept and retain the nails or other fasteners. Likewise, while I have known and an enlarged undercut surrounding said tersmall attachment meansof a given shape, other minal, whereby said fastening means having a shapes and sizes may be employed or the breaker head longer than its width may be inserted into strip made up of laminae, one of which contains said slot and then rotated to prevent withdrawal slots into which nails may be inserted. It will- 5 thereof. be quite apparent therefore, that modifications 2. In a breaker strip, a body, an attaching may be made in my invention without departing means for said body comprising an undercut from the spirit thereof. track to accept a headed fastening means in 8. Having thus described my invention, what I face of said body, said undercut track being in claim as new and desire to secure by Letters 1 the shape of a groove having an access portion, Patent is: I a a terminal, and an enlarged undercut surround- 1. In a breaker strip, a body, an attachment ing said terminal, whereby said headed fastenmeans comprising a block for attachment to a ing means having a head longer than its width face of said body, said block having an undercut may be inserted into said track through said acrecess therein to accept a headed fastening l5 cess portion and then rotated at said terminal to means, said undercut recess being in the shape prevent withdrawal thereo a of a groove having an access portion, a terminal, OLIVER O. RIESER. 

